In the 2008 election cycle, I noticed the Texas Republicans in my district convention (Travis County, N. Austin) pushed their loyalist insiders very hard to turn out and battle Ron Paul supporters for delegate slots. They sent out mailers (on a non-partisan non-profit's stationery and dime) saying that anti-family, anti-life insurgents were trying to take over the party. They also did robo-calls (from the same non-profit) with the same message. At the convention, they wired up homeschool kids with secret mics so they would be able to monitor and relay the conversations of certain RP targets they were instructed to benignly approach. Robert's Rules were selectively enforced, points-of-order routinely ignored, "plants" stationed at microphones to steer the agenda, and protesters threatened with expulsion if they objected to the chairman's heavy-handed tactics.